Balancing Act
by klutzysunshine
Summary: Falling in love and getting knocked up had never been part of Eleanor's plan but she and Chidi are excited to meet their daughter.


Eleanor can't wait to get this baby out of her for a variety of reasons (she's excited to meet her daughter but is tired of pregnancy, which is exhausting and weird) but she's going to miss balancing random shit on her stomach. The growing curve of her stomach has been extremely helpful the past few months even though it means she can no longer see her feet. Chidi has to put her shoes on, which she hates, but he never complains (he won't stop gushing about how beautiful she is, and it makes her emotional every time even though she doesn't believe it). Falling in love and getting knocked up had never been part of Eleanor's plan but for the first time in her life, she's deliriously happy and excited for the future. She's trying to become a better person too and actually succeeding, which is amazing. The odd moments of deja vu she and Chidi experience _is_ a little weird but easy enough to brush away (especially once he starts ranting about what deja vu really is). The baby aimed a kick at her kidney, and she groaned. "Go easy on me, kid," she pleaded, rubbing her abdomen in hopes of calming her down. And as predicted, it didn't work. "Get over here!" Eleanor called to her boyfriend.

Chidi laughed and immediately stood up, rushing to her side. He leaned down, moving her shirt up a bit, placed a hand on his girlfriend's stomach, and waited for the baby to kick a few more times. "Hey, you. It's your daddy. Go easy on Mama, okay? I know you're excited to get here - so are we - but Mama's tired. Go to sleep," he encouraged.

"You really think that's going to work?" a skeptical Eleanor asked as their unborn daughter kicked her particularly hard once more. Then she stopped but Chidi could see an imprint of a tiny hand, something which still freaked him out. Then the hand disappeared and the somersaults going on in Eleanor's uterus came to a brief stop. She sighed in relief and then yawned. "This kid's not even out yet and she's a daddy's girl."

He grinned at his girlfriend as he moved back up to her line of vision. "What can I say? She loves me already," he told her.

"Hey, I'm the one who's had to deal with eight months of hell. She better love me too," Eleanor mock pouted.

Chidi could only shake his head in amusement. "I don't have to work until later. You want to go out for breakfast?"

She wrinkled her nose up. "As long as it's not an Australian breakfast."

"You're still on that?" he asked her - she didn't have a taste for normal Australian fare, and the pregnancy had only made it worse.

"Yes! I know you're used to all this shit but I'm not. And I'm starving so let's go before I pass out." She loved naps but lately it felt like that was all that she was doing. It kinda sucked, actually. Maybe it balanced out the lack of sleep they'd get once the baby was born?

He sighed, grabbed her hand, and then they headed out to the car so they could go out to eat. They had just ordered when the man at the table next to them smiled at the couple. "Congratulations. How far along are you?" he asked.

"Thank you - eight months. Just a few weeks to go!" Used to these annoying, probing questions, Eleanor turned her attention back to Chidi but their neighbor was undeterred.

"You know, you should name the baby MIchael if it's a boy. Michelle or Michaela if you're having a girl. Good solid names." He held up his thumb and then winked at them.

Chidi and Eleanor exchanged confused glances. The man seemed somewhat familiar to Eleanor but she couldn't place him. "Can I help you, sir?" questioned Chidi.

He shook his head. "Nah, everything's fine. But good luck - you're on the right path." He winked at them, paid his bill, and then left.

"That was weird as fuck," Eleanor murmured.

"Yeah, but at least he's gone." Chidi couldn't figure out why he seemed familiar to him but he wasn't going to dwell on it.

Trying to soothe her daughter - now awake and kicking up a storm again - Eleanor started rubbing her stomach. "God, I'm starving. I can't wait until my body goes back to normal."

"You're beautiful like this." It was something he had been repeating for months now.

"Thanks, but I'm too exhausted for sex," she teased.

He glared at his girlfriend for a second. "Really?" Every time?" he asked her with a grin on his face.

"Yes. And it's only because I love you. And you've known from the beginning that I'm an Arizona dirtbag." And there was that deja vu again but Eleanor pushed it to the back of her mind.

"But you're my Arizona dirtbag, and I love you too, Eleanor."

"Aw, you're so sweet. Tell me again."

He decided to change the subject. "So, have you stopped taking names off our list?" They were going to name the baby together, of course, but there were associations with certain names (according to Eleanor) and she was culling the list.

She sighed. "Naming babies is way harder than I thought it'd be. What do you think about the name Tahani?" That one kept randomly popping up when she was looking at baby names sites, and Eleanor couldn't figure out why.

"Veto," he said immediately, not entirely sure why.

"Fine. But we better figure it out before she gets here. We don't want her to go nameless because that's liable to fuck her up and there's already a lot of shit going against us." A bit insecure about motherhood due to her own upbringing, Eleanor was determined not to screw this up. She didn't want her daughter to hate them or feel the way she still sometimes did about her childhood (most of her life, really, until her near death experience).

Chidi bit her lip, hating to see her so insecure. "Hey, stop that. I told you before that we're not going to screw her up. Yes, every parent messes up, but you are not like your parents - just like I'm not like mine."

She smiled at him. "I'd kiss you but there's no way I'm getting up now so either get over here or just imagine it."

He laughed, shook his head, and then leaned over the table to kiss her. He squeezed her hand and then sat back down, hardly able to believe this was his life now. He couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with Eleanor and their daughter.

* * *

Three weeks later, the weird conversation they had with a stranger at the restaurant was completely forgotten by the time they brought home their daughter, Ophelia Ada Shellstrop-Anagonye. "Seems like such a long name for a tiny baby," Eleanor whispered, careful not to wake the newborn.

"You're the one who wanted her to have both our last names," he reminded her, absolutely transfixed by Ophelia.

"I still can't believe I actually pushed a tiny human out of my vagina. Still feeling all nine pounds of her."

Chidi winced. "Again, I apologize."

She waved off his apology. "Eh, don't worry about it. I'm just glad she's finally here." Pregnancy had been an interesting experience and she wasn't sure if she'd willingly go through it again but nine months of hell had been worth it in the end because of Ophelia. When Ophelia cracked open her eyes and stared at her for a few seconds, Eleanor teared up. "Hi."

Chidi kissed the side of Eleanor's head and leaned back so he could watch his girlfriend and daughter. He was the happiest he had ever been with the two of them.

Eleanor had never thought she could ever be this happy - life had been miserable for the longest time. And although she had scoffed at the concept before, she knew for a fact that Chidi was the love of her life, and hopefully he felt the same (he definitely did).

Because they couldn't keep their hands off each other - even with a baby in the house - neither one of them were surprised when Ophelia was joined by a sister, Margaux Bailey, just fourteen months later. Eleanor and Chidi's youngest was just six weeks old when they met Jason Mendoza and Tahani Al-Jamil for the first time.

Nothing was ever really the same after that.


End file.
